US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in Beijing yesterday that the two countries should work together to make the China-US "Strategic Economic Dialogue" a successful bridge in enhancing economic relations and resolving trade disputes.

Paulson's remarks came during a meeting with President Hu Jintao. The US official said he would work closely with Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi to narrow differences and address bilateral trade issues through the mechanism, according to a statement released by China's Foreign Ministry.

Launched in September 2006, the biannual strategic economic dialogue between Beijing and Washington serves as a platform to discuss long-term, comprehensive issues affecting the trade relationship between the two countries.

But the mechanism has been criticized by some US law makers for not delivering enough tangible results.

Paulson told Hu the strategic dialogue was "in a key stage of development," according to the statement.

The projects resulting from the first two rounds of process should be "thoroughly implemented," Hu urged, proposing that both countries develop new ideas to cement cooperation and improve trade relations.

Hu said sound and stable bilateral economic relations were in the fundamental interests of both nations and served the need to maintain stable growth in the world economy.

Paulson's visit, his second this year following a short tour in March, was widely regarded as paving the way for the third dialogue meeting in December in Beijing. He came to discuss pressing issues such as the trade imbalance, the Chinese currency exchange rate, food safety, energy efficiency and environmental protection.

Just days before his trip, the US Senate Finance Committee overwhelmingly signed off on a bill that would allow the US government to use a wide array of measures to force other countries to adopt more market-oriented currency policies.

If passed by Congress and signed by the president, the bill would require the Treasury Department to identify countries with "fundamentally misaligned" currencies.

Treasury refused to cite China as a currency manipulator in its semiannual report to Congress in June.